PCIC Science Brief: Arctic Warming, Increasing Snow Cover and Widespread Boreal Cooling

PCIC is pleased to announce the release of our next Science Brief. PCIC Science Briefs are a regular series of brief reports on recent climate science literature, relevant to stakeholders in the Pacific and Yukon Region of Canada. PCIC has developed these briefs because we recognize the need for a bridge between the cutting edge of climate science research and the various stakeholders who need access to this knowledge, in plain-language reports, filtered for regional relevance, and suitable for consideration in planning and adaptation. The PCIC Science Briefs contextualize and explain the results and implications of important scientific findings.
 
This Science Brief covers the findings of an article by Cohen and colleagues in the journal Environmental Research Letters. They examine why is is that, while the Arctic has experienced nearly twice as much warming as the rest of the world over the past 40 years, winters in eastern North America and northern Eurasia have become cooler, with weather becoming more extreme over the last two decades. The authors find that the large-scale winter cooling trends in eastern North America and northern Eurasia could be due to increased high-latitude moisture and snow cover and probably cannot be attributed to internal variability alone.
 
Read this Science Brief. 
 
Cohen, J. L., et al., 2012: Arctic warming, increasing snow cover and widespread boreal winter cooling. Environmental Research Letters, 7:014007. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014007.